Please, no more Chargers blackouts

But if the Chargers home games are going to be on TV this season, somebody has to step it up.

The fans. (Not me. I bought that Sony Bravia.)

Local businesses. We bailed out banks. How about them returning the favor?

Anyone with money. (See not me, above.)

I just doubt it's going to be the NFL helping out.

The Chargers haven't sold out any games so far. A game needs to be sold out three days before kickoff to be on local TV.

Last Saturday, we had our first blackout. Thank goodness it was just a lame preseason game against the Seattle Seahawks, meaning it wasn't the end of the world.

Come September, when the real games start, blackouts would be devastating — and not just for me.

A lot of people like to watch the Chargers on TV — about 800,000, based on ratings figures. Nothing else comes close to pulling in that kind of a local audience.

It's glue. And, given the economy, given the gloomy state we're in, I think we need it more than ever.

“I could lose half my crowd,” said Mike Pasulka, owner of Players Sports Bar in Clairemont, if the games weren't televised.

He's hoping it's just posturing, that the Chargers are putting the word out that blackouts are possible so ticket sales increase.

Maybe not. The economy is way in the toilet. We've hit 10 percent unemployment. Maybe some people who used to go to games can no longer afford to go.

Other teams aren't selling out either.

That's because going to a game costs more than watching Cartoon Network at home. Most of the available Chargers tickets are more than $70 a pop and that doesn't include parking, beer and a veggie dog. Pretty soon, the only people who will be able to afford to go to the games would be the players. And that would cause something of a problem.

The other problem is that the NFL doesn't play, so to speak. If you don't sell out, you don't get the game on TV — even Direct TV's Sunday Package, which you pay nearly $300 for.

And if your city's stadium is lame, you don't get a Super Bowl. (Oh, that's a whole other column.)

Ian Linekin, general manager of McGregor's Grill and Ale House in Mission Valley, says the blackout policy is too harsh, particularly given the times.

“Everybody else in this town is trying to be accommodating,” he said.

Ethan Banegas, a season-ticket holder, says the economy has had a major impact, but he also says San Diego fans aren't the most committed ones in the nation.

“San Diego is not a great sports town, compared to say, Green Bay,” Banegas said. “We have more to do here.”

Some of the upcoming season's games are several thousand tickets short of selling out. The team needs to sell 56,500 to lift the blackout. We could see a regular-season game blacked out for the first time since 2004, when the team began to get hot.